What are Odd-Lifts?
Odd-Lifts are true to their name – quite ‘odd’ and can be a real source of amusement. Take the two person clean and jerk, for example – imagine a short guy and a tall guy lifting together! Or the middle fingers clean and press, quite literally a clean and press with two middle fingers only. There’s even something called the Zeigler Clean, which is a clean whilst balancing a plate on your head! (I’m going to try this one).
They sound crazy but there’s actually a few lifts in there that really hit the mark for functionality and as conditioning drills. One handed snatch and one handed clean and jerks are great movements for strengthening the trunk as they challenge the transverse axis and may also have neurological benefits. In Odd-Lifts competitions there are also repetition bodyweight cleans, snatches and clean and jerks. If you have good form that you can maintain with these lifts then they could be one of the best overall conditioning drills you ever do!
Who really does Odd-Lifts?
Some one clearly does do Odd-Lifts as there is an Odd-lifts Strength Association. You can see a list of all the lists and records held for each lift on the Odd-lifts website. Whether you should be doing them yourself remains to be seen, but hey isn’t it fun to try something new once in a while – the weights room can be a pretty boring place and we can all benefit from working out of our comfort zone!
Thinking about trying some odd-lifts for yourself?
Come along to our Open Day this Saturday at 10am to try some odd-lifts with Mac from MyGym Group Training.
